Frank Mir talks about loss to Shane Carwin – Cyberaxis reflections on the interview

First of all, it is clear, upon closer analysis, that the Shane Carwin pummeling and loss did a major number on Frank – a big part of which had to do with the way he set himself up going into this fight – physically, mentally and emotionally – on top of the Lesnar/UFC public relations albatross he hung around his own neck. The fact of the matter – if you analyze the language, body and otherwise – is that he is devastated and not yet out of the woods on this one.  Think Rashad Evans after Machida – but with the detritus of his pre-fight antics still in the air.  Mir is ultra subdued and this picture is worth a thousand words.

The fact that it took him this long to even talk about his UFC 111 loss  speaks volumes about the wallop he took from it.  But the humility, whether enforced or not, is a tad more becoming than the unmoored smack talking before the fight.  In certain ways it hacks back to the man  Frank Mir could be – the man we praised in the pre-UFC 81 article here. But that is were the commendable stuff ends.

Everything else in this short interview makes little sense. Take your time. Listen to it and then come back. If his breakdown of the fight doesn’t leave you scratching your head, then we don’t know what will.   Is the man we once thought of  as one of the most cerebral in the octagon  a one trick pony reduced to learning one thing per fight?

It became a problem of over-training for one aspect. I was so obsessed with not being taken down . You can see when he shot on me I was so appeased  with myself, I said look you can’t take me down.  You are any excellent wrestler  and I think I was just celebrating mentally saying hey look, I can avoid the takedown. I have improved my game.  I forgot about being punched in the face. (Frank Mir to David Stanford, Edmonton, Canada, mmacanada.net)

A stunning revelation considering that Frank had had to move his head out of the way a couple of times after  being hit with sneaky rights in the clinch position.  Unbelievable.  We think  Frank was just talking off the cuff and trying his loquacious best explain away a fight in which he did most things wrong. He cannot win if he goes into fights with one plan and fails to adapt on the fly. He should have realized the danger he was in when Carwin kept roughing up  his knees and pummeling his face with sneaky rights in the clinch position.  The ultra-relaxed demeanor is what partly got him in trouble when he found himself underneath a hyper-aggressive Brock Lesnar at UFC 100. What gives here? Never let them see you sweat? Sheesh!

Is the big revelation of the interview that he cannot win as a “muscle-head”, and need to take more of his chances as a tactical fighter? Sorry. Been tried before – and by a fighter who is perhaps a better all-round heavyweight than him: Randy Couture. And he fared only marginally better. Ditto the Texas Crazy Horse.  Our conclusion? Interviews are not gonna help Frank Mir in the interim. A better PR strategy would be to remain mum and let his fists do all the talking – but that would be like asking Frank to quit gabbing without the benefit of a half-way house.

copyright© 2010 cyberaxis.wordpress.com

Frank Mir’s Other Moment Of Truth: Karmic Denouement At UFC 111

As minutes to UFC 111  tick down, fans huddle behind bars and computer screens, caught up in the vicarious heaving and hoeing of conjecture, suspense and roller-coaster emotions that usually attend these events. For Frank Mir an unscheduled moment of truth may be about to hit him ….  up on his knees shaking his head after being knocked down or out. The crowd is going crazy and Mir knows it is not for him. Not for him. He looks up at his wife and something passes between them. It is time – but its OK,  they have each other.

Could UFC 111 be the road to nowhere for Frank Mir? He may find this out sooner than later because Brock Lesnar is a dead end.

Fantasy? Yeah, perhaps, but we seriously doubt it. Especially the essence of the hunch that Frank Mir, the  60 to 40 favorite,  is walking into an upset that will come as a result of being knocked out after being overwhelmed by Carwin’s strength. Frank may have hit 264.5lbs at the height of bulking up, but that does not necessarily translate into functional strength and endurance.  Carwin, whose last weigh-in weight at UFC 96 was 259.5lbs, said he had to cut weight to meet the 265lbs limit. He is the more compact of the two and arguably the more naturally strong. We think that beyond skill, this is what is gonna carry the day. Franks’s new-fangled boxing skills, although marginally better than Carwin’s, are not gonna carry the day because in order to deploy them, he will have to enter the event horizon where anything can and often does happen.  The more Mir boxes with Carwin, the more he stands the chance of being knocked down or out by that short right. And the more he wrestles with Carwin, the more he stands the chance of tasting Carwin’s raw strength (something he shares with Lesnar) and his  ground-and-pound chops. The latter  ain’t pretty but they get the job done. End of story.

Injury Caveat: The other thing Frank needs to look out for are the possibilities for serious injuries. We were concerned for him  at UFC 100 and the outcome almost bore our fears out. He needs to look out for himself in this fight and not  (to put it into his own words) let his ego get in the way.

So Cyberaxis is  calling UFC 111 for Shane Carwin in the first or second round by knock our or TKO. Mark the date stamps on this post if in doubt our intentions to stick by our prediction. Take a screen shot for good measure.

Lessons Learned: Losing is gonna be a tough pill for Frank Mir but it will turn him into a better human being and competitor. You will know about this because he will tell you in time. When the time comes he will tell you that losing afforded  him a chance  to re-center himself and find a sense of perspective in a world that had become topsy-turvy with his loss to Brock Lesnar. Losing will turn Mir’s his energies inward where they should have been oriented in the first place.

copyright© 2009 cyberaxis.wordpress.com

Frank Mir’s risky stance going into UFC 111

It almost has nothing to commend it for  and a lot to mark it as a veritable albatross around an MMA pugilist who doesn’t need any at this late in his career. We are talking about Frank Mir  and his  willful decision to look past his UFC  111 opponent, Shane Carwin, to some fantasized  rematch with Brock Lesnar which may never happen. Plain stupid and strategically ill-advised if you ask us. Add to that the fairly recent  interview in which Mir expressed a desire to see Lesnar be the first man to die from octagon-related injuries, and you have a string of faux pas that should be  spread out over a fighter’s lifetime instead of 12 months.

Frank Mir – Risky Business

Mir’s missteps recall Brock Lesnar’s own public relations blunders which have only been mitigated by his convincing wins, but the truth of the matter is that his decision to play the braggadocious heel has put him on a slippery perch for the rest of his UFC career -  something UFC stalwarts like Randy Couture have never had to put up with.  Oh well, to each their own – Frank Mir included we guess.

Why Frank would  wanna look past Shane Carwin,  a guy who could bounce him off the octagon Brock-style,  is probably a function of his mental state, which  seems a bit catawampus lately.  Anything can happen in this fight and for Frank to carry on like like his victory is fait accompli is to confuse his obsession with fantasies about dispatching dangerous opponents:

“There is just something inside me now that I can’t get rid of and it hurts all the time. It’s the dreams I have at night about Brock [Lesnar]. If I don’t get to go in there and physically hurt Brock, then I don’t know if I can live with myself. My stand up has been just steamrolling, better and better every fight. I boxed with Nogueira for seven minutes and Nogueira… I made him look silly. I caught Cheick Kongo, who is probably the best striker we have in the UFC, and I put him out in about a minute. I’m 265 lbs. now, and I’m quick and I’m skilled. Everything says in my heart and in my will that I won’t be denied. I have to have this. I want him [Shane Carwin] to know that he came in there full and strong and ready and I still took his heart out of his chest. He might hate Brock, but he don’t hate him as much as I do. That’s the difference of feeling the power that I will come out on top on UFC 111.”  – Frank Mir (As quoted by the  Bleacher Report)

The Distortive Rear View Mirror and the Albatross:

My stand up has been just steamrolling, better and better every fight. I boxed with Nogueira for seven minutes and Nogueira… I made him look silly.

Oh really? Google Frank Mir vs Nogueira to see just how silly Mir make Nogueira look. Distortive rear-view mirror look? You bet.

“I caught Cheick Kongo, who is probably the best striker we have in the UFC, and I put him out in about a minute.”

Oh really? Kongo is the best striker we have in the UFC? Frank needs to have his head examined. And bragging about his victory over Kongo is the last thing a man like Mir should be doing unless he is grabbing at emotional straws to bolster a frazzled ego. Kongo is a zero at this point in UFC. He took two long rounds to submit a hapless Buentello after countless takedowns he could not capitalize on. And the striking? Where was the best striker in the UFC that night? Frank kind of reminds us of that Foster Farms chicken impostor – all full of salt water and little else. And talking about which, he does look quite porked up. Look at his belly in that Noguiera video.  Lean mass? What lean mass? You will see what lean mass looks like when he squares up against a granite block of a manhood named Shane Carwin.

“He might hate Brock, but he don’t hate him as much as I do. That’s the difference of  feeling the power that I will come out on top on UFC 111.”

So Frank Mir’s motivation going into this fight is predicated on hatred of the man he lost to in UFC 100 back in July of 2009? (Note that George St. Pierre was also on that card against Thiago Alves.) What convoluted mental and emotional baggage – and one that belittles the significance of the man who is gonna be standing in front of him tonight.  Our published prediction is that Mir will be shocked tonight and that experience will be ultimately good for exorcising the demons he has allowed to claim residence in his psyche.

Mir’s whole public spiel has been the figurative equivalent of putting a millstone around his own neck: The “death in the Octagon” remark when Lesnar was just over fighting a life threatening disease, the diss of Antonio Noguiera, the unwarranted celebration of his victory against Kongo and the looking past  Shane Carwin who could turn out his headlights.

And while we have to admit that there are many unknowns around a hypothetical re-matching up of Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar, a Mir win against Shane Carwin tonight would not necessarily mean that Frank Mir has found a way to resolve the vulnerabilities that led to his being pummeled into a bloody mess by Brock Lesnar. For the record, we had predicted a Lesnar win against Carwin in the match-up planned before Lesnar’s illness. So beating a man who we predicted was gonna be beaten by Lesnar is no prediction of better prospects Mir’s future.

So all this yakking has done nothing for Mir except put the burden of performance on him. If you talk the talk …. You know the spiel. The other thing Mir’s yakking has done is to make Brock Lesnar almost look like a gentleman, an impressive feat given the trog antics that Lesnar put on full display at UFC 100.

As much as is possible, enjoy UFC 111. May the worst man lose. Yah get the drift. Good day.

copyright© 2010 cyberaxis.wordpress.com

Appendices:

MMA Live March 25, 2010 – UFC 111, Preview plus other fighters

The Trouble With Frank Mir: Divergent Ways of Dealing with Post-fight Trauma

Frank Mir was a certifiable trash talker until yesterday. With the ” I want to break (Lesnar’s) neck in the ring. I want him to be the first person that dies due to octagon-related injuries” Frank Mir crossed a line that could make for an anecdotal case for having one’s head examined.

“A lot of individuals are so worried about being politically correct,” Mir said in a radio interview. “I’d rather go ahead and say what’s on my mind than to sit there and come up with some PC ‘Oh, the guy is a great fighter and I have a lot of respect for him.’ If I don’t mean it, why is it even coming out of my mouth?”

“I want to fight Lesnar. I hate who he is as a person. I want to break his neck in the ring. I want him to be the first person that dies due to Octagon-related injuries. That’s what’s going through my mind.” (Frank Mir with Mark Madden, Radio Interview)

That Frank’s remark was highly impolitic, regardless of what other purpoted trash-talkers have said in the past,  goes without saying – which is why the UFC came down hard on him (More on this later on.) The public significance of that is now moot. Frank has apologized, but not before  being publicly lambasted as a “(bleeping) idiot” by Dana White. These are sensitive times:

“Mir is a [expletive] idiot! I have never heard something so unprofessional and idiotic in my life,” (Dana White with Carmichael Dave of KHTK,  Sacramento, CA)

The remark was out of line – even when you listen to it in the context of the interview Mir had with Madden:

What does it say about Frank’s frame of mind? His touch or lack thereof with the bounds of propriety in time-space and circumstance?   To examine this from a different perspective, we would like to suggest two different ways in which two UFC fighters in recent memory have dealt with the challenge or trauma of losing, namely Frank Mir and Rashad Evans.

Frank Mir stranded on a head trip? A study in contrasts

Rashad Evans: Grounded in victory and defeat? You be the judge.

Legend: The story of Rashad Evans is very instructive of how fighters can handle a traumatic loss, because this is a guy who went into virtual hibernation after the shock and awe of his loss to Lyoto Machida in UFC 98. Evans who should never have given into the temptation of playing the cocky-punk-ass  because he doesn’t play a very convincing heel to begin with, had the extra feelings of embarrassment to deal with. His post-hibernation interview posted on Youtube is a riveting study in humility and soul searching. True, Evans’ drubbing was not crowned with eggregious ridicule and unsportmanlike showboating, but his unstinting inner focus is very instructive of a man who had reconnected with his inner man and responsibilities, regardless of what had happened to him. To say that Frank Mir could not have  found this inner focus, especially after Lesnar’s unsportsmanlike demonstrations,  is to absolve him of personal responsibility in a way that belittles  him as a man.

We do have a theory though: Frank found it hard to recover mentally or emotionally because by the time the fight rolled along, he had already invested  too much in the mental and emotional bet of trash talking – and that the trash talking may just have been motivated by his own fears of what Lesnar would do to him. Remember that Frank had tussled with Lesnar at UFC 81 and had a pretty good idea of the kind of power Lesnar had. Fighters have a special place for these kinds of memories.

Whichever way one analyzes this, it is clear that Frank never really recovered from the gambit he committed himself to after UFC 81. Our theory would more than explain why someone who had won that fight would resort to over-the-top  trash talking as the next fight approached.  The champion/interim champion issue doesn’t explain the ensuing back-and-forth that ended up with quite a bit of ill-feeling as UFC 100 would show.

Case closed? Hardly. We are just clearing our throats.  Come back in about 24 hours for the fleshing out of this theme. This latest outburst by Frank Mir shows that he is not reliably in touch with the bounds of propriety. This greatly diminishes his status within the MMA community. This is baggage Frank does not need. Beyond his a need to handle his octagon demons better, he is faced with the nearly insurmountable task of winning back the fan goodwill that was his for the taking prior  to UFC 81.

Coming up in this article:

• What the heck was wrong with Mir’s statement and why he doesn’t seem to be getting it. See Ben Fowlkes article under “Appendices.”

• Like Lesnar before him, he has frittered away his P.R. advantage – and for what?

copyright© 2009 cyberaxis.wordpress.com

Appendices:

Frank Mir needs to learn to keep his mouth shut (Cyberaxis)

Mir can’t understand backlash to provocative Lesnar comments (Ben Fowlkes, Inside MMA)

Cain Velasquez and Postcards from UFC 110

UFC 110 in Australia will be remembered as a low-key event that nevertheless  sent back huge postcards about Cain Velasquez and the future of the UFC heavyweight division.  Set in the land down under, this is an even that  could have as well been billed as “Return of the Vets: Old Guns versus Young ‘Uns.”  Two of them (Wanderlei Silva and Mirko Cro Cop) won and the last two (Antonio Nogueira and Keith Jardine) lost for an even split with the young ‘uns.

People couldn’t help but cheer for Wanderlei Silva, the grand-daddy of old Pride championships who has given MMA his all, including his face and nose cartilage. His win over Michael Bisping was a like a shot in the arm for the MMA hard-core. You had to be heartless to not cheer for this take-no-prisoners warrior, especially against a colicky prick like Michael Bisping. Wanderlei’s almost knock-out flurry at the end of the last round was one of the high points of the night.

Postcard #1:  But the most notable postcard was the emergence of Cain Velasquez as a certifiably serious challenger to the heavyweight throne of the UFC. The kid earned his stripes last night and we duly revise our assessment of him from not being ready for primetime to someone who has as  a good chance as any, absent the buzz-saw named Brock Lesnar, of capturing the heavyweight title. What made us change our assessment, beyond the knockout of Antonio Nogueira at 2:20 of the first round, was his willingness to stand and trade serious punches. The stand-up game was impressive from the crisp accurate punches (accuracy percentage 64% – the second best in the UFC) to the crisp, agile kicks with explosive rotation. No, this was not a ground and pound scraper, but a fully-formed fighter materializing before our very eyes. Nuff respect. Nuff respect.

“El Matador” Cain Velasquez – The coming of Latin pride to UFC-MMA in the form of a take-no-prisoners gladiator. At UFC 110, the 27 year old Velasquez sent notice to the entire world.

Does the UFC need a heavyweight champion like Cain Velasquez? As celebrated MILF and former vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin would say, “You betcha!” Reason? There is nothing negative about what this young man represents, from his overt ethnic pride, to his focus, work-ethic and low-key persona which comes across as humility. The demographic he stands to bring into UFC fandom, is one of the fastest if not the fastest-growing demographic in the United States. And the group has none of that highfalutin’ prejudice against the pugilistic of the arts. Are you reading this Mr. Dana White sir?

Cain’s win last night may have put him slightly ahead of Shane Carwin by virtue of  its improved stand-up game backed by a proven ground-and-pound game. The only thing Cain has to fear is Shane’s power.  Frank Mir has to pick a number behind Shane and Cain at this point. Beating Cheick Kongo means zip.  Zero.  Nada.

Drive and focus wise, Velasquez is on a par with Lesnar with a slight edge going to Velasquez because of Lesnar’s overweening confidence. Be that as it may, beating a healthy Lesnar – if at all, won’t be a walk in the park. The limiting factors for Velasquez would be size and strength. There is a very good reason Frank Mir has bulked up in preparation for a possible rematch with The Brock. Wiry grapplers just don’t cut it with Brock. He is just “too much man” for the average heavyweight stiff. Ask Randy Couture if ya doubt our contention. So coming in at a willowy 243lbs versus 265 plus pounds won’t be enough for Velasquez. Either he bulks up a la Frank Mir with corresponding strength gains or Lesnar comes down to Velasquez’s actual weight for a really fair match. But you know that won’t happen.  Regulations don’t call for it; end of  story.

Cyberaxis Prediction: So watch Cain Velasquez put on the pounds, slowly but surely.  There are no two ways about this if he wants to be counted as a credible contender against Brock Lesnar. Remember you heard it here first.

Postcard #2: UFC has gone international with no sign of the interest or attendance numbers waning.  Reports IFight365 from its website:

UFC President Dana White delivered the good news with the event drawing 17,831 people for a gate that is estimated at $2.5 million. That number moves the UFC 110 event ahead of the UFC 105 event held in Manchester, England last November that drew 16,693 fans. In addition to breaking the UFC’s record, White added that the event set an Acer Arena record for the highest-grossing sporting event in the arena’s history, as well as selling the most merchandise ever for any event, beating an Iron Maiden concert held at the venue. (IFight365 Website)

Rumblings of making MMA an Olympic are already being made even though Dana White is studiedly feigning disinterest or nonchalance.

Postcard #3: It is tough to watch the old-timers being methodically pulverized by the young ‘uns as they grab for that last bit of glory or  security – financial or otherwise. At the young age of 33 – young by any other standard that is – Wanderlei is already a grand-daddy of the sport. Now think of retiring at 33 and do the math. That is a good 40 years that one has to figure out how what to do with one’s time, assuming that one doesn’t have anything to worry about money. The message (among other things)? Fighters and the UFC have to figure out how secure prime fighters’ futures one way or the other. MMA fighting, like football and other sports, offers a woefully short career. An emerging body like UFC has to figure out how to  do things right by its fighters. The help that Brock Lesnar needed during his traumatic illness, is just the tip of the iceberg.

Poscard #4: When you hold other things constant, youth is an ascendant aspect in this sport. Nothing new here. The dominating performances by Cain Velasquez vs Antonio Nogueira and Ryan Bader vs Keith Jardine said it all. Watch for the changing of the guard at your nearest UFC event. The corn-fed young ‘uns are coming up bigger, stronger and physically more precocious than preceding generation; as if you didn’t already know that. If not, visit your local gym.

copyright© 2010 cyberaxis.wordpress.com

Frank Mir needs to learn to keep his mouth shut

Frank Mir’s win against chiseled Parisian, Cheick Kongo, at UFC 107 last night was impressive, but Frank’s trash talking prior to the fight took  more from his win than Kongo’s status as a fighter whose career seems to be on the wane.  The post-fight conciliatory gestures did little  take away the  sour-taste-in-the-mouth following the pre-fight acrimony.  It does not matter that Frank’s analysis of Kongo’s talents or lack thereof, was spot on. There is trash talking and then there is trash talking.  The fact that the normally reticent Kongo took particular umbrage to it just put an exclamation point to this particular spat. (See how Kongo turned his back to Frank at the weigh-in.) There is a certain unwritten science and art to it as Mir found out in the Brock Lesnar affair.

The unnecessary trash talking against Kongo placed Frank in the unenviable position of being “the jerk” who won; which is an odd position for a man who used to be Mr. Nice. After all the trash talking, there was very little room for the kind of inspirational speech-making he gave after  knocking off Big Nog,  Antonio Nogueira at UFC 92.

The  role of the trash-talking “heel” for Mir  is as ill-fitting as a “gi” on Yokozuna. Please note that the trash-talking started around the time Mir’s career had become stagnant.  And prior to UFC 107 last night, his mouth was running more than a broken  toilet bowl. Coincidence? Perhaps not.

(The fabricated bad blood, such as the ballyhooed one between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans) is the kind of crap the UFC needs to stay away from lest it begins to manifest hereditary genes of the WWE bloodline. (UFC 107: A better card out of the blue – Cyberaxis)

Standing Caveat: This is not your little brother’s WWE: And it cannot be all light-hearted ribbing when your opponent takes umbrage at your talk and bashes your face in a few more times  a la Brock Lesnar or Dan Henderson in the case of the pesky Michael Bisping. The only exception to the rule about trash talking is when you have fighters who choose trash talking as part of their persona. Mir did not start off this way, hence our dismay at this insidious drift which  leaves him in no-man’s land because Mir is not an avowed heel.

Those who defend this trend as a way to drum publicity should think of the WWE and the fact that its recessive genes may find bothersome expression in UFC culture.

Cyberaxis to Frank Mir: Shut the fuck up and remember this UFC 100 drubbing every time you try to open your mouth. (Photo by Associated Press)

As for Frank, he in the interim,  needs to decide whether his spiel is gonna veer more towards comedy which is pardonable or the-walk-the-talk realism which is permissible only if he can walk the talk. In the months and weeks prior to UFC 100, it veered  more towards comedy and the people  who were disinclined to cut him some slack forgave him because his life was clearly on the line.

Be that as it may,  the trash talking against Lesnar, following Mir’s drubbing at UFC 100, created a monumental  PR/image problems for the UFC veteran. There was some justifiable sense,  pari passu, that Mir’s merciless drubbing and Lesnar’s over-the-top celebration was Mir’s deserved comeuppance. Yes, there are people who withheld sympathy for Mir because of his taunting of Lesnar.

If Frank wasn’t such an insecure prick, he’d be very likable. He’s very good on the WEC as a analyst, but once you put an opponent in front of him, he becomes a tool. What’s funny is that he seems to fluctuate between the insecure toolishness and genuine goodness that he possesses. During the Countdown show, he said Kongo’s striking was mediocre. Then at the pre-fight presser today, he says that he’s a great striker and that he will look to take the fight to the ground. Very interesting guy, he just needs to realize that he’s a great fighter and doesn’t need to mask his insecurities with cockiness. (Spirona, Reader Comments, Five Ounces of Pain 12/10/09)

Mir should resolve to zip it up at this point and let his fighting do the talking, unless he wants to become “the  Lesnar of the mouth” – which is really representative of the failure of inner PR.

copyright© 2009 cyberaxis.wordpress.com

Appendices:

The Trouble With Frank Mir: Divergent ways of dealing with post fight trauma (Cyberaxis)

Carwin Calls Mir A Terrible Human being (Steve Cofield, Yahoo)

Dana Flips His Lid Over Mir – The Apologies Are In (Steve Cofield)

UFC Forces Frank Mir To Backtrack On Lesnar Death Comment (Sergio Non, USA Today)

Cheick Kongo Loss At UFC 107: Anatomy of a career in decline

Losing to Frank Mir at UFC 107 came as no surprise. However doing so in 1:12″ flat,  after a vicious knockdown at 46 seconds which resulted in a rear naked choke,  sure came as a bit of a surprise. And if you wanna talk about adding insult to injury, here it is: Frank Mir who had been running his mouth may have, with that summary win,  succeeded at “handing Cheick Kongo his walking papers.” Just like he said. Just like he said. There was no poetic justice when it was needed most. But we digress.

Cheick Kongo – A painful study in contrasts between promise and performance, appearance and action and form and function. Is it too late for the chiseled Parisian? We hope not. (Picture: Dave Mandel)

With that loss, Cheick Kongo’s UFC record since  UFC 61 – Bitter Rivals on 7/8/06,  stands at 7 wins and 4 losses. That is a loss rate of more than half of his matches in the UFC – not a stellar record by any measure. It looks terminally dismal when one considers the promise that Kongo – a formidable specimen of chiseled  physicality with an equally impressive highlight reel – brought to the UFC. The fact that he is 34 and counting throws a rather sobering shadow onto the whole scenario.

Cheick Kongo’s overall record, inclusive of his pre-UFC fights is 14-6-1. While this recasts his situation, it also shrouds it against a more realistic assessment of a career that seems to be in decline since  UFC 82 (Pride of a Champion) against Heath Herring on 3/1/08.

Fact: with the exception of Mirko Cro Cop in  UFC 75, Kongo has not fared well against UFC stalwarts like Herring, Velasquez or Mir.  Sure, following UFC 82,  he did score wins against Dan Evensen, Mostapha Al Turk and Antoni Hardonk, but these were fighters with non-stellar records, at least by UFC standards.

Reflections on Cheick Kongo’s Career: One’s intuitive assessment of Kongo’s career would make one lean towards the conjecture that this was perhaps a man who started his fighting career late. But no, if reports are to be believed, Kongo started training in Kendo and Karate at the tender age of five.  His career record prior to UFC was marginal with slightly more wins than loses.  In UFC it hasn’t really changed with the exception that the losses are beginning to edge the wins, and the big momentum in more recent fighters with UFC stalwarts has been zero.  So what that means is that he is really fighting his way down the ladder.

Remember that Cheick Kongo was at one time whispered to be a top prospect against Brock Lesnar on top of Kongo’s own kvetching about how Lesnar had gotten a title shot “so fast” when there were other fighters who had been in the UFC longer than him.  My! how quickly things change. Kongo would neither want to see that clip of himself re-broadcast live or face a healthy Lesnar who would want to take him at his word.  The Brock Lesnar who re-arranged Frank Mir’s face in no time flat would kill Kongo. Plain and simple.

Some Painful Conclusions: Given the facts of Kongo’s career to date one can draw a few conclusions, some tentative and others not so.

1. Kongo is actually not as strong as he looks.

2. In the ring, he appears stiff and punches without the snap that delivers mondo power to an opponent’s face. (Snapping multiplies  a striker’s power.)

3. He has very poor perception, strike defense and a weak chin for such a strong looking dude.

4. His ground game is pathetic (His tussle with Gilbert Yvel was hilariously pathetic. We don’t know what was more laughable, the fighters’ performance or the the so called experts commentary.)

2. He tends to lack stamina, relative to his opponents.

3. He lacks to ability to adapt  to his opponents and think on his feet. As a result of the latter, he makes poor decisions. His decision to just stand in his corner there posturing while the Texas Crazy Horse barreled on his “vogueing”  ass was as puzzling as anything we have ever seen in MMA. Ditto his decision to repeatedly try and take down Roy Nelson when that tack was barely working.

Is it too late for Cheick Kongo to reinvent himself?  We hope not, but time may not be on his side.

copyright© 2009 cyberaxis.wordpress.com

UFC 107: A Better Card Out of the Blue (Partial Results Update)

Sometimes the best cards come out of lack of contrivance on the part of the UFC. Take the headlining clash between B.J. Penn and Diego Sanchez for example; it is better in every way than the manufactured  hype that was supposed to be the shits between Quinton “Mr. T. for 5 minutes” Jackson and Rashad “Machida sang me a lullaby” Evans. The latter is the kind of crap the UFC needs to stay away from lest it begins to manifest hereditary genes of the WWE bloodline. That fight was just not interesting on so many levels. But we digress.

Penn vs Sanchez is a match-up that promises more substance and real fireworks on so many levels. We would watch this anytime. We are sticking with Penn on this one. Our call: a Penn win via a knock-down which culminates in a TKO or submission by round 3. Sanchez may be the night-stalker terror, but he is not yet ready for B.J. prime-time.

Do Not Discount Kongo: The other interesting match-up is between Frank Mir and Cheick Kongo: two guys who cannot afford to lose another match running. A loss on either resume (read that record) would look really bad besides portending a career in decline. There’s something immeasurably painful about these moments and anyone who does not feel them sympathetically should have their heart checked out.

Frank Mir needs a win bad to replenish depleted levels of testestorone after the merciless by Brock Lesnar at UFC 100 and Cheick Kongo needs to show why being and expat fighter is worth his or the UFC’s  time after an extremely poor showing against Cain Velasquez in UFC 99. Kongo looked old and spent in that fight, and there are no acceptable excuses for poor stamina and strength for a buck built like him. Cain, on his part, is not yet ready for prime-time, despite protestations to the contrary, and losing to him was not a good sign for Cheick Kongo. Based on this we would say Kongo needs a win perhaps more than Frank Mir tonight, but Frank Mir is not gonna make it an easy job for him.

The fight will most probably go the distance with the win going to Frank Mir by a unanimous decision. However there is a chance that this fight may end quickly in the first or second round if Kongo strikes find a lucky mark. Discount this possibility at your own risk.

A win by Kongo would be poetic justice for a Mir who has lost his gentlemanly mojo. The latter's trash talk has ceased to amuse. Think Brock Lesnar of the mouth. Case closed. (Photo by Dave Mandel)

Update: 11/12/09, 11.30pm

Frank Mir pulled a win in spectacular fashion over Parisian fighter, Cheick Kongo 1:12″ flat with a rear naked choke that almost left Kongo unconscious. Whether this spectacular win was a result of Mir’s improvement of Kongo’s deterioration will be up for debate in the coming weeks.

We gave Kongo a striker’s chance of landing the big one but that did not come close to seeing the light of day after Mir landed a big strike that brought the muscular Parisian down at 46 seconds into the opening round. After that it was countdown to lights out. Oi vei!

B.J. Penn’s  win over Diego Sanchez was not a surprise. What was a surprise was the amount of damage he inflicted on the nervy fighter. The gash he opened over Sanchez’s left eyebrow with a kick to the head in the fifth round did more damage than the doctors could stomach. The referee called a stoppage to the fight right there but that was the culmination of tremendous punishment Penn had inflicted on the challenger from the opening bell. In certain ways it  was reminiscent of G.S.P vs Thiago Silva.

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Appendix:

The Unrealised Promise of Cheick Kongo (Cyberaxis)

UFC 100 Postmortem: Brock Lesnar pummels Frank Mir into a bloody mess (Full Video – While it lasts)

“The best lack all conviction,
While the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
(W.B. Yeats, The Second Coming)

Frank Mir was our sentimental favorite, but he just came in just too short (even on conviction) to win this fight tonight. Brock Lesnar, on the other hand, was all business, coming in as he did with the resolve and sangfroid of a fighter who had run a thousand winning scenarios through his head. The live-cams minutes before the fight told an intriguing story; Frank  Mir was kick-sparring with a trainer while Lesnar sat down in his room looking almost bored. As they say back in Texas,  “that one pi’ture” was worth a thousand words.

Reality Check: The doomsday scenario we posted on this morning almost came true. Frank Mir almost got pummeled into oblivion (Full video clip here while it lasts) before the referee stopped the fight at about 1’44″ in the second round; something we had also envisioned by way of  blog prediction.

The end was written all over the lop-sided first round. After taking down and mounting Mir in the first round, Lesnar locked Mir’s head against his chest with his left arm while tenderizing Mir’s rib cage and face with those canned hams Lesnar calls fists. It almost ended as an uncanny replay of Brock Lesnar vs Min Soo Kim.

The strength and near total domination of Mir by Lesnar was self-evident, even to  little ol’ ladies watchin’ from rocking chairs in bayou trailer parks.  Mir looked pre-anesthetized like quarry just before a pursuing big cat closes in on it and rips out its guts. Watch how calmly Frank Mir lay beneath Brock Lesnar as the latter pummeled his face and armpit. Strange huh? Mir’s face was a certifiable mess at the end of that first round.

The second round started with a flash of engaging stand-up that saw a momentarily re-energized Mir throwing a short left hand and a couple of gutsy knees at Lesnar before being taken down again for the bloody finale. This time Mir found himself wedged between the cold hard fence and 265lbs of Brock Lesnar. The latter unleashed a punishing barrage of right-handed pummelings as Mir lay trapped beneath him.  Soon Frank started to wink out and the referee, Herb Dean, rightfully jumped in and stopped the fight. Mir was wobbly and clearly disoriented, even up to the time he got up and tried to get into Lesnar’s face with blood dripping down his face. It “war’n't pretty that pi’ture”.

Stick A Fork In This One: This little rivalry is done. There were no surprises here – at least the second time around. Regardless of how he came into the UFC, Lesnar can now move on. Frank should start thinking of what he needs to do even begin thinking of fighting other androids like Lesnar in the future: namely beef up on pure, functional muscle before attempting to out-freak  freaks. The UFC should take serious note here.  Feeding otherwise good fighters to freak shows  is neither interesting nor a good way to build organizational credibility. Randy Couture was (is) a good fighter. And so is Frank Mir. They just ran into a train named Brock Lesnar.

The Problem With Brock: Be that as it may, the drama following the victory announcement was worth the price of admission. In a rant heard around the world, Lesnar flew off the handle and dissed Budweiser, told the world what he might do to his wife come bedtime and flipped the collective bird at MMA fans. Brock had heard the MMA fan boos from day one and that double bird,  far from being for just the fans at Mandalay Bay, was for MMA fans worldwide; the ones who have loved to hate his guts. As side shows go, this one was pretty intriguing and unlike  scripted WWE disses, this one was heartfelt ….. both ways. MMA fans like July, were so incensed that calling Lesnar a “265 pound body (with the) brain of a five-year old” old was probably the least hurtful thing they could say of him. The Hairless One (Mr. Dana White) was not amused. He reportedly took Lesnar aside for a serious man-to-man talk in the bathroom. Come post-fight conference Lesnar was all smiles and noticeably more civil. He apologized for this post fight conduct and even came in with a Budweiser in hand instead of the Coors Light he had been ranting about. (Budweiser is one of the UFC sponsors.)

What the hell is Brock on?

A flying banzai finale for the good ol' US of A: Dan Henderson delivers a cathartic coup de grace after a Hail Mary right hand knocked the petulant Brit out cold.

Never Believe The Hype: With one exception, UFC 100 failed to live up to its pre-fight hype, courtesy Joe  Rogan and company. And that exception was Henderson’s spectacular knock-out of the pesky Bisping with a Hail Mary right hand and banzai finish, as he mouthy Brit lay motionless on the canvas. It was a cathartic and later controversial finish to an otherwise staid two rounds which saw the workman-like Californian throw right-handed bombs that missed their mark 99% of the time. But perceptive fans knew it was just a matter of time before one of Henderson’s scuds landed. When it did, the stadium erupted the way it would have had Frank Mir knocked the head off of Brock Lesnar.

Bisping was so out cold that when he came to he appeared to be saying “Where am I? What day is it?” .  See Henderson knock out Bisping at MMA Hits here (while the video still exists). Then check out the gory pics of UFC 100 here under “Wild nights of fights at UFC.

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UFC 100 – The New Caveat: Frank Mir could get seriously hurt

Of the many possibilities floating out there in the waning hours before UFC 100 is a sobering one: Frank Mir could get seriously hurt. Far from being idle speculation, this is a possibility that is more probable than the other way round; that is Brock Lesnar getting seriously hurt at the hands of Frank Mir.  And as crass as it might sound, this is one eventuality book-makers may be willing to put some money on.

“My striking’s not bad either,” he said. “That’s a big SOB (Lesnar weighed in at 265 but will be rehydrated to around 280 at fight time; Mir weighed in at 245). Those are big canned hams coming at your head. I don’t care how good you are. That’s a lot of man and a lot of strength to go toe-to-toe with. You’ve got to try to tie him up and get inside his punches to deal with him. I still think it’s a bad idea no matter how good you are to just stand in front of a guy that big.” (Randy Couture to Mike Chiappeta, MMA Fan House)

Cut Android: Brock Lesnar can inflict some serious damage.

So the caveat for Frank Mir as he steps into that octagon is to be careful (as much as a fighter who is trying to blow another fighter’s head off can be.) In this connection the standing advice to the referee would be to be as on top of the fight as Steve Mazzagati was on the last one. The only fact mitigating this doomsday scenario is Brock Lesnar’s relative inability to fully deploy his brutish strength. But even with that, he is still a freak of nature that relatively weaker fighters need to look out for.

Just a few final thoughts in these, the waning hours before UFC 100.

Update: Please check out:

UFC 100 Post Mortem – Brock Lesnar Pummels Frank Mir into a bloody mess (Full fight video – While it lasts)

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UFC 100: Will Mir vs Lesnar II be a great fight?

Everyone is betting and banking on Brock Lesnar beating the snot out of Frank Mir come July 11, 2009, but nobody is talking about whether the fight will be a great fight. We think not. In terms of the size and weight differential, this fight might as well be entitled “neighborhood bully bounces the local paper boy”.  Couture vs Lesnar had the same lopsided tale-o’-tape stats.

Don’t Believe The Hype: The sizzle  coming out of UFC Central is all fabricated hype. Joe Rogan and Dana White have to sell as many tickets as they can. Don’t believe the hype. The only time this fight will turn remotely interesting is if  Frank Mir wins – which would be an accidental thriller after the fact. (But even that could turn into a frigging dud too, depending on how Mir would have done it.)

The odds of this fight being great are middling to nil - unless of course Mir pulls off another upset.

The reason why a Mir surprise win would spice things up has to do with the 30/70% odds against Mir; which makes him the certified underdog.  If Frank Mir wins, as he quite possibly may, the Mandalay Bay arena will erupt into organized mayhem and a millions of  MMA fans watching at home will snort their Root Beer along with their partly masticated nachos. ( Paper boy bounces up neighborhood bully!)

The overwhelming force that Lesnar unleashed against Mir at the beginning of the first round of UFC 81 makes a Lesnar victory a foregone conclusion. In that sense a Lesnar victory would not make for any exciting news breaks. (Neighborhood bully bounces local paper boy.)  Given the speed and agility  Lesnar has already demonstrated, that 25lb weight  and size difference is gonna be too hard for Mir to overcome.

On Being Like Lyoto: On second thoughts we think Mir could benefit a little by taking a coupla pages out of the Lyoto Machida playbook, but that is easier said than done. Frank Mir is no Lyoto Machida and Lyoto Machida has never faced a brute like Brock Lesnar. But having said that, fleet-footed evasiveness while delivering punishing leg kicks and (where safe) pin-point blows to the head may be Mir’s best chance of surviving rounds one and two, (if the fight goes that far.) Round three would be a time to go for broke by closing the gap and taking his chances with submitting the beast. If Mir brings questionable toughness or weak-ass cardio, it will be over before it has even begun.

Of Brock Lesnar & Sir Charles: Brock Lesnar reminds us a lot of another  athlete from a different sport: Sir Charles Barkley. Both are physically imposing athletes with a skill quotient that gives their physical prowess a run for its money. But there is a downside to being Yokozuna in a sport that glorifies speed, agility and Michael Jordanesque skill.

Call Your Balls: (Otherwise what’s the fun?) We are calling this fight for Lesnar by a referee stoppage in the first or second round. But our sentimental favorite to win this by a submission in the first or third round, is Frank Mir. A knockout would be nice, but we are no dreamers.

copyright© 2009 cyberaxis.wordpress.com

Frank Mir And UFC 100: The chance of a lifetime to represent MMA values at their best

UFC 100 is here, and so is Frank Mir’s chance of a lifetime to represent MMA values at their best  in the much-anticipated David versus Goliath re-match with putative title-holder, Brock Lesnar (3-1-0). (Check out the Yahoo countdown to  UFC 100. Click on the video player for the pre-fight previews.)

At about 30% versus a whopping 70% for Lesnar,  very few bettors are giving Mir much of a chance of kicking Lesnar’s butt and pulling off another upset,  UFC 81 style. But that’s really neither here nor there where hard-core  MMA fans are concerned.

Mir of the Gods (right) vs The Brock in UFC 100 at the Mandalay Bay on July 11, 2009: A possible thriller in the making following the electrifying seconds of UFC 81.

Win Place Or Show: All Mir has to do is come in the best shape of his life and represent MMA the way Randy Couture represented it at UFC 91.  What that means is that,  win or lose,  Mir can still show the world what the heart, mind and soul of a tried-and-true  MMA pugilist is all about; namely drop-dead skill unencumbered by presumptions of  force. This approach calls for a different kind of approach …. A different kind of method. (A page from Lyoto Machida‘s book could perhaps be helpful, but we can’t say for sure.)

Of Mixed Martial Arts and Pachyderms: If there ever was an elephant-in-the-room question, it is simply this: Who is best suited to carry the UFC banner into a post-Liddell world? Or put another way: Who is best suited to be one of the poster boys, not just for UFC, but MMA at large? In certain ways  this question  is bigger than who is gonna win this hyped-up tournament, right up there with the need to split the heavyweight division so that size does not become the  inordinate factor in determining who wins or loses.

Our no-brainer vote goes with Frank Mir. Why? Well, he has the skills, smarts and spirit of what MMA is all about for starters.  Which leads us to believe that beyond MMA pugilism, Mir has a future as an MMA commentator, the wry trash talking schtick notwithstanding.  Brock Lesnar is a contender, but he still has a long way to go before he, pound-for-pound, starts matching the mettle of fighters like Mir and Couture et al.

“(Brock Lesnar) wants to smash me to smithereens and put his fist down my throat, which I understand. But I want to choke him unconscious until he does the fish on the ground.” Frank Mir mouthing off about UFC 100 at the Arnold Classic 2009 Expo.  Oi vei!

But the beauty of UFC 100 is that beyond representin’,  Mir  could pull off an upset of Lesnar by yet another submission. He just has to find a way to weather the initial barrage that Lesnar may unleash on him. If Mir can find a way to inflict punishing leg kicks on Lesnar’s without being grounded and pounded, then he will have a tool that may just win him the fight. Without full leg power and balance, Lesnar’s explosiveness in the stand-up game would not be possible. But the strategy is fraught with all kinds of dangers for Mir as UFC 81 demonstrated. The moment Mir tried to kick Lesnar’s leg, he got grounded and pounded almost into oblivion. Most fighters tend to leave themselves open to immediate counter-attack not to mention momentary loss of balance in average kick situations. Lyoto Machida has a way to deal with this. Firstly, he delivers his kicks from way out of the strike zone. And secondly he employs tremendous speed and retracts his leg immediately upon impact to regain instant balance.

Mir’s other vulnerability lies in possibly getting caught by one of Lesnar’s iron fists and losing his wits. The Lesnar right hand, that knocked Heath Herring on his ass and tumbled him like a bowling pin,  is still awe-inspiring in its power, speed and sinewy reach. Check the slow motion replay of that blow and you will become an instant believer in how dangerous Lesnar can be on his feet. Notice how his feet for the perfect spring-board for that reach. It’s almost as if Herring didn’t have the time to block that right hand or get out of the way.

Mir will be particularly vulnerable in the average  ground-and-pound situation because of Lesnar’s amazing strength. This is why Mir needs  tremendous  strength to be able to wiggle out of  dangerous mount situations Heath Herring-style. Mir nearly lost UFC 81 when Lesnar took him down at will and started raining those knuckled bricks upon his head. The video is still a thriller to watch.

The sangfroid of a chessmaster & stealth of an anaconda - Brazilian Jiu Jitsu wunderkind and all round Mr. Nice Guy, Frank Mir: The Nogueria fight proved that he is no softie when it comes to decking formidable opponents on cue. On the side, UFC & Dana White could use his candid & perceptive style of fight analysis.

Endgame Scenarios: Do not get us wrong. We think Mir will fight a nervy,  smart fight and never fall into the trap of trying to out-Brock Brock Lesnar:  i.e. rushing him Tank Abott style or trying to land a Liddell-style haymaker. Beyond his own strength and conditioning,  Mir is gonna need a couple of mistakes on the part of Lesnar to open the door for him. And given Lesnar’s  inexperience, there is a good chance that he will open that door once or twice. (While on the subject we here at Cyberaxis would give a lot to find out what kind of a chin Lesnar has on that thick neck of his. A well placed blow, right on the button like the  shot that  brought down Gonzaga will answer that question in a Las Vegas second.  But we digress.  Mir ain’t no Carwin and Lesnar ain’t no Gonzaga.)

Lesnar’s strategic challenges  are not as diminutive as they may appear at first. The question of the night is, does he rush Mir and bounce him off the octagon  floor the way he did Heath Herring  at the beginning of  UFC 87 or does he settle for feeling him out until a great attack  opportunity presents itself? If he settles for the rope-a-dope or odd mount fight that he had with Herring, our money is on Frank Mir to put a sneaky kibosh on the Brock’s ass . Short of Lesnar making some stupid mistake in the first round, Mir’s best strategy beyond inflicting punishing leg kicks, would to evade or smother Lesnar’s power in the earlier rounds and then moving in on him like an anaconda. Yep. Lesnar does need choking, before being relegated to the Butterbean realm of the super heavyweight division.

Skill Over Size: Frank Mir puts the kibosh on Brock Lesnar in UFC 81 and temporarily quietens the waters roiled by Brock Lesnar's fast tracked ascension to heavyweight championship.

See update to this story under “UFC 100 Postmortem” below. The full video of the fight can for the time being be located at regretfulmorning.com here.

Appendices:

The Trouble With Frank Mir: Divergent ways of dealing with post fight trauma (Cyberaxis) – Brand New Post -

Frank Mir needs to learn to keep his mouth shut (Cyberaxis)

Lesnar vs Carwin in UFC 106: The next step in the ascent of Brock Lesnar (Cyberaxis)

UFC 100 Post-mortem: Brock Lesnar pummels Frank Mir into a bloody mess (Full video – while it lasts) (Cyberaxis)

Why UFC 104 with Machida vs Jackson would have eclipsed UFC 100 (Cyberaxis)

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